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Everyone’s favourite human-shaped biscuit is about to bid "adieu" to its “man” moniker with the arrival of Co-op ’s new “gingerbread person”.
The supermarket is set to launch a gender-neutral version of the sweet treat and is asking its customers to help come up with a name.
It has not yet confirmed what the biscuit will look like when it is released in September.
However, the company has released a sneak peek of one of the possible designs, showing the gingerbread person wearing grey clothing, made out of icing.
From 10 April until 1 May, Co-op is running a competition on its website to give shoppers the chance to name the new addition.
Show all 20 1 /20The 20 best food scenes in film The 20 best food scenes in film Lady & the Tramp Who would have guessed one of the most romantic scenes in cinema would involve two dogs eating scraps in an alleyway? And, yet, the iconic spaghetti kiss from Disney’s 1955 animated film has been oft imitated but never surpassed, as the two pups indulge in an Italian delicacy, all soundtracked to Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee’s “Bella Notte”. And, as Tramp proves, there’s no greater act of chivalry than offering your date the last meatball…
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The 20 best food scenes in film Babette's Feast Gabriel Axel’s Oscar-winning 1987 Danish film is a visual treat for any self-confessed gourmand. The story sees two pious Protestant sisters offer refuge to a French woman fleeing the political tumult in Paris after the collapse of the Second Empire in 1871. They agree to hire her as a housekeeper, discovering later that she’s the former chef of one of Paris’s best restaurants. When she wins the lottery, she uses the funds to whip a meal to remember for her kindly hosts.
The 20 best food scenes in film Hook All the very best chefs know that a dash of pure imagination is key to creating a true culinary wonder. It’s a lesson well-taught in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 classic, Hook, as a grown-up Peter Pan (Robin Williams) looks on in disbelief as the Lost Boys tuck into what appears to be nothing at all. It’s only when he truly believes that he can see the brightly colour feast laid out before him. And what childish feast would be complete without an old fashioned food fight?
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The 20 best food scenes in film Breakfast at Tiffany's Sure, the 1961 film’s title may be a little misleading. Its protagonist, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), in reality only has breakfast outside of Tiffany’s, popping out of a cab in the early morning light to peer into the jewelry shop window, all while enjoying a pastry and some coffee in a paper. The moment has still remained the peak of glamour, decades later, so who cares if it’s all a little white lie?
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The 20 best food scenes in film The Godfather It’s a classic scene that proves to be surprisingly instructional. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film has a full-blown recipe tucked within its elegant drama, as Vito Corleone’s close associate, Peter Clemenza (Richard Castellano), offers his version of the perfect pasta sauce. As he explains: “You start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; you make sure it doesn't stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. And a little bit of wine, and a little bit of sugar—that's my trick."
Rex Features
The 20 best food scenes in film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Although the 1971 musical is, as a whole, a sugary delight, it’s hardest to resist the temptation of Willy Wonka’s Fizzy Lifting Drinks, a soda described as so bubbly that it lifts anyone who drinks it right off the ground. It’s no wonder that it was the one stop on the tour that ended up tempting the pure-hearted Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) and his grandfather (Jack Albertson). Now, the real question is: does it come in different flavours?
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The 20 best food scenes in film Eat Pray Love For anyone who considers pizza to be the true love of their life, Ryan Murphy’s 2010 romcom is a perfect cinematic match. It’s hard not to relate to the moment Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) bites into a piece of authentic Italian pizza, during the Naples stop on her global adventure of self-discovery, and declares: “I’m in love. I’m in a relationship with my pizza.”
Rex Features
The 20 best food scenes in film Beauty & the Beast Although we might not fully be convinced that the grey stuff is delicious, the “dinner and show” approach to Lumiere (Jerry Orbach)’s hospitality is something we could certainly get used to. In Disney’s 1991 animation, Belle (Paige O'Hara) is presented with a whole cavalcade of sumptuous dishes: including beef ragout, cheese souffle, pie and pudding "en flambe". And there’s a sage piece of advice to go with it all, too: “If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest!” Indeed.
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The 20 best food scenes in film Steel Magnolias While there’s been a growing fad of ambitious, unusually themed cakes – you need only look at the success of the TLC reality series Cake Boss – there are few cinematic cakes that quite stick in the memory like Jackson (Dylan McDermott)’s armadillo-shaped groom cake from 1989 comedy-drama Steel Magnolias, a spin on the tradition from the American South of having another cake separate to the main wedding cake. And did we mention that it’s red velvet on the inside?
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The 20 best food scenes in film Marie Antoinette When it came to director Sofia Coppola conjuring the ultimate image of decadence for her 2006 biopic on the French queen, there was no more perfect treat than Ladurée’s famous macarons. Delicate and pastel-toned, the meringue-based confection has long been the speciality of the French bakery, first established in 1862. A new flavour was even created in honour of the film, with the Marie Antoinette offering a combination of rose and anise flavours.
Columbia Pictures
The 20 best food scenes in film The Hundred Foot Journey Food is often regarded as one of the best ways to understand a culture, and The Hundred-Foot Journey is wonderful for showing the efforts the talented, self-taught novice Hassan (Manish Dayal) goes to in order to comprehend that. During a picnic he reveals he has mastered the five “mother sauces” of French cuisine, and the delicate tasting process that follows demonstrates just how important food is to France.
The 20 best food scenes in film Goodfellas “In prison, dinner was always a big thing.” So much so that the Wise Guys ate better than most people on the outside. “Beyond the Sea” plays in the background as the gangsters prepare their meal: Garlic sliced so thin with a razor blade that it would “liquefy in the pan with just a little oil”, meatballs in a tomato sauce that’s “a little too oniony”, steak cooked medium rare, iced lobsters, prosciutto, salami, cheese, red wine and good Scotch. Maybe crime does pay after all.
The 20 best food scenes in film Chocolat There are few pleasures in life more fulfilling than that of cooking for others. In Chocolat – based on the book by Joanne Harris – a slow-motion scene where dinner party guests tuck into the feast created by expert chocolatier Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) is full of warmth and laughter.
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The 20 best food scenes in film Pulp Fiction In a world where people seem more than happy to fork out £15 for some mushy avocado on toast, $5 for a milkshake doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Vincent Vega (John Travolta) takes his boss’ wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out to Jack Rabbit Slim’s for a burger, where she decides she wants the “$5 dollar shake”. “You don’t put bourbon in it or nothing?” a bewildered Vincent asks the waiter. When it arrives, Mia takes a long sip: “Yummy.” “I gotta know what a $5 shake tastes like,” Vincent says. He takes a sip. Then another. “Goddamn, that’s a pretty f***ing good milkshake.”
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The 20 best food scenes in film Julie & Julia Nora Ephron’s feature film based on the intertwining stories of chef Julia Child and Julie Powell, the blogger who rose to fame after documenting her pledge to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s cookbook, is all about the joy one can find in food. It is some of the earlier scenes that capture this best, like when Julia (Meryl Streep) and her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) arrive in Paris and stop at a French restaurant, where Julia is served a sizzling platter of sole. It looked so mouth-watering in the final edit that Ephron “wanted to call up Martin Scorcese and say, ‘you’ve never shot a fish like that before’”.
Rex
The 20 best food scenes in film Ratatouille Fearsome critic Anton Ego takes a bite of ratatouille and is transported back to his childhood, where it was a favourite comfort food, in the best scene from Pixar’s wonderful animated film. The detail is superb, from the process of Remy the rat preparing the dish to the moment Ego’s pen falls to the ground as he remembers the power of a favourite meal in evoking memories we thought were lost.
YouTube screengrab / Jeugos para ninos / Disney Pixar
The 20 best food scenes in film Spinal Tap “I don’t want this, I want large bread… but I can rise above it, I’m a professional.” The miniature bread catastrophe is a beautiful parody on every self-absorbed rock star to have kicked off over something as ludicrous as the food they’re served backstage. Guitarist Nigel Tufnell sits next to a tray of sandwiches looking baffled as his manager walks over. "Look," he says, picking up a sandwich. "This, this miniature bread. It's like... I've been working with this now for about half an hour. I can't figure it out. Let's say I want a bite, right, you've got this..." "Why do you keep folding it?" Ian asks. Nigel looks down at the broken bits of bread, then tries again: "This. I don't want this." He throws the sandwich to the ground, disgusted. "I want large bread!"
Embassy Pictures
The 20 best food scenes in film The Help After all the trauma she has been through – at the hands of her abusive husband and a racist ex-employer – Minny (Octavia Spencer) arrives at her employer Celia Foote to find a beautiful dinner cooked for her as a thank you for everything she has done for Celia and her husband. You see the care that has gone into it as Celia lays everything out on the table, from a “mile high meringue” to the fried chicken Minny taught her how to make. “That table of food gave Minny the strength she needed,” the narration explains. “She took her babies out from under Leroy and never went back.”
AP Photo/Disney DreamWorks II, Dale Robinette
The 20 best food scenes in film Five Easy Pieces Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) just wants some toast to go with his omelette, but the waitress is stubbornly sticking to the diner’s “no substitutions” rule. “I’ll make it as easy for you as I can,” goes the famous order. “I’d like an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast. No mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce… and hold the chicken.”
Columbia Pictures
The 20 best food scenes in film Big Night It was a scene that helped propel a revolution in American dining. Il Timpano, a dish inspired by the notoriously tricky-to-make Italian meal, is the star of a moment in Big Night where chef brothers Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) prepares it as the centrepiece for a feast attended by their rival, Pascal. “Goddamit, I should kill you,” he screams, throwing his fork down after tasting Il Timpano. “This is so f***ing good, I should kill you.”
The supermarket will then put together a shortlist of its favourite suggestions before asking the public to choose a winner.
“Our Food team is adding the final touches to a new Co-op gingerbread person, but they’ve yet to come up with a name,” the Co-op website reads.
"The plan is to give our new gingerbread fellow some seasonal costume refreshes - a distinctively Christmassy look for December and something rather spooky around Halloween for example.
“So they’ll need a name that works for any time of year. We also need to ensure that the name is gender neutral too.”
The decision to create a gender-neutral version of the gingerbread man has been criticised by some on social media.
“Inclusion is a great policy, but making the Gingerbread Man gender neutral is just political correctness gone crazy,” one person wrote on Twitter.
Another added: “Can’t believe the coop is launching a ‘gender neutral gingerbread person’. Wtf is going on?”
However, a spokesperson for the Co-op says the supermarket is confident the biscuit will be a hit when it goes on sale in September.
“Inclusion and diversity lie at the heart of Co-op's values and we're looking to create a character which can be used to celebrate different occasions through the year and will appeal to all our customers,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Co-op isn’t the first food chain to make its gingerbread man gender-neutral.
In August 2018, Pret A Manger announced it would be launching a female gingerbread treat to go alongside its existing gingerbread man.
And that the pair, named Annie and Gofrey, would be sold as gender-neutral “gingerbread biscuits”, rather than men and women.
The company said the change was made after Clive Schlee, Pret’s chief executive, received a letter from a customer asking why there were no “gingerbread girls”.
While it remains to be seen whether or not the decision to allow the public to choose the gingerbread person’s name is a wise move, past experience tells us the Co-op should be concerned.
In April 2016, the Natural Environment Research Council launched a competition to name its new polar research ship, only for people to vote overwhelmingly in favour of RRS Boaty McBoatface .
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Despite the suggestion's victory in a public poll, Science Minister Jo Johnson announced the boat would instead be called the Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough , after the famed broadcaster and naturalist.
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